The Knight and The Duck
by Niia. Lady of Sorrow
Summary: This is set after the entirety of the anime series..... Spoilers abound


Author's Notes: I do not own Princess Tutu nor any of the characters that appear in the anime or manga...everyone else is mine..and if you use my characters without my permission ... I WILL TAKE YOUR SOULS!

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Once upon a time there was girl who buried herself into the pages of books. Ever since she was a child she would hungrily read the stories of others and later she would write down words about others. Their worlds were hers and their lives filled her own with joy, but no matter how many words she read or wrote down, the void in her heart was never filled and her own life remained empty. Then one day a story spinner entered her life and revealed that in fact she was only a character herself. She defeated the tragedy obsessed man after much hardship, but that is another story.

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Gears and cogs fill the area. The faint sound of ticking can be heard in the background. A woman stands beside a small puppet as she watches a duck stare mournfully at a dark-haired human boy. "Are we going to help Ahiru-zura?" "Ahiru? I thought you said this was 'The Prince and The Raven'." In the shadows of the gears, various piles of books were gathered. They all held different characters and plots, but they had all been written by one Drosselmeyer and they had all held unspeakable woe. Drosselmeyer's spirit had been put to rest, wether he liked it or not, and now his predecessor rose to the task of ending his stories. Not all of the stories she had fixed had a happy ending, but they were alot better off than they had been, filled with unmitigated despair. 'The Prince and The Raven' was the last book she had left to fix, but it seemed that it had already ended happily ever after. The woman knelt down and smiled gently at the green-haired puppet. "Why do you want to help Ahiru, Uzura? The story is already finished." Tears filled the puppet's eyes and her lower lip trembled as they spilled over her cheeks and onto the tin drum she wore. "Ahiru needs love-love-zura!" "Be that as it may, there is nothing I can do. The story was about a prince and his raven, not a duck, and their story is over." The woman straightened and watched as it began to rain and then hail. Hailstones the size of golfballs fell out of the sky, leaving dents in the ground. The duck couldn't escape the water. All her attention was needed to dodge the frigid missiles. The dark-haired boy dived into the water and rescued her. Swimming out of the testy pond water, he sheilded the duck from the hail and rushed inside where it was safe. "Perhaps it is time for a new story. A sequel." "What is a sequel-zura?" "A story that happens after another story has ended and yet there is still more of it left to tell." The image of the house, the duck, and the boy disappeared and only a blank gear was left in its' place. The woman walked over to one of the piles of books and pulled out a blank one. Even though she had the power to make stories into reality, she had only used it to fix, never create, though in a way she was still fixing. Pulling a quill out she opened the leather-bound cover and penned the title page; 'The Knight and The Duck: a sequel to Drosselmeyer's 'The Prince and The Raven'. written by J. Realyn. Slowly the gears around her started turning forward.

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It had been a year since Drosselmeyer's hold over the town had been broken. The magic that had held the town in its' power for so long had faded over night. Try as he might, Fakia could never make the stories he wrote, of Ahiru or anyone, come true. It seemed he truly had used all of his power to help Mute defeat the Raven and to help Ahiru stay alive. Fakia felt that, indeed, he had not escaped his fate after all and was torn asunder by the feelings that plaqued him. He was glad his Prince had found a happy ending and that the story was finished, but he wished that the story had never ended and that Ahiru would have never had to sacrifice her dreams and provide hope for others. Everyone had forgotten that the little yellow duck had ever been a human girl. Everyone forgot that there had ever been any magic or stories in Kinkan; that there had ever been a Princess Tutu. Even Fakia and Ahiru forgot sometimes, but despite that they stayed beside each other. When they remembered who they had been, every moment was spent in each other's presence, shunning all others. They couldn't communicate with each other through speech, but dance and gestures were enough. They had to be. When they did not remember, Fakia spent his days at the dance academy and Ahiru flew through the skies, but even then each night found them sleeping together in Fakia's bed, Fakia curled around the small form of Ahiru, protecting her as he had promised.

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This day Ahiru remembered, but Fakia did not. That had never happened before. They remembered together and forgot together. In that way, even when they were seperated, they were together. Thunder rumbled in the distance as clouds began to billow over the town and darken. Fakia was on holiday from school and had come down to the small pond, bringing bread crumbs for his little duck friend. After she had finished the tasty morsels, Ahiru had shown a gesture of thanks, but Fakia had only narrowed his eyes and stared in bewilderment. Ahiru quacked wildly, trying desperately to find out why her friend was treating her as if she was a stranger. Tears clouded Ahiru's vision as she finally realized the reason behind his coldness. Even though she was standing next to him, she felt more alone than she ever had before, even when she had tried to drown herself in the lake of despair, Fakia had been there with her. Ahiru felt like her heart was breaking as her fears rushed in, crowding her mind with all the things that could happen if he never remembered again. She didn't want to ever lose him. Quickly as that her resolve grew to stay by his side no matter the outcome. Fakia was relieved when his little duck hopped into the water and began to swim around. He was afraid she had caught some avian form of rabies the way she was quacking and moving about so awkwardly. Smiling, he sat on the ground and dangled his feet in the cool water and watched the duck move gracefully over its' calm surface. Most never thought of ducks as graceful, always comparing them to swans and the like, but Fakia felt they were. 

They spent the day there in companionable silence until Fakia stood up to head home and Ahiru hopped onto the grass to follow. When he realized his friend was following him, he turned around with a small frown and picked her up. He didn't know what posessed him to bring this bird home every night, but it would be best if he stopped. He'd probably squash her one day if he continued. As Fakia gently set Ahiru into the water, she let out a loud quack and flapped her wings, fighting against his refusal of her. He just smoothed her feathers and patted her head, hoping she understood enough to stay. He ignored the feeling of loss in his chest, spurning himself for holding onto the duck like a security blanket. It was time to move on with his life. He heard one small mournful quack right before the peice of hail hit him in the shoulder. He didn't even realize it was raining until then. His first instinct was to rush inside to avoid anymore injuries, but then the distressed quacks of a duck pierced through the air. The hail was falling hard and Ahiru was fighting to stay afloat. Fakia's eyes grew wide and he ran full speed, back towards the pond, heedless of the various balls of ice that slammed into his body. He didn't expect the water to be so cold as he plunged into its' depths. It clutched his lungs and he fought against it as he rose beside Ahiru. He pulled her into his embrace once more, using his arms to sheild her from the hail and made his way to the shore. From there he fairly flew across the cobble stones and pulled himself and Ahiru into the warm darkness of his house. Ahiru didn't mind as he murmured to her. Ahiru didn't mind as he slid to the floor, dripping steadily onto it. Ahiru didnt mind as he rocked with her gently in his arms. Ahiru didn't mind as he fell asleep there and she soon followed after.

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Author's Note: As much as I love ballet I know more about theater so for now a theater term for the chapter title. If any of you are wondering Dues Ex Machina means machine of god ..or in layman's terms ..divine intervention... it's usually meant to as something convenient to push the story along. 

I do plan on doing 26 chapters like the anime series... I spit on the manga it just does simply not compare.

Reviews are appreciated and are greatly coveted...even the flame ones.. pulls out a bag of marshmallows


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